{"id":513,"date":"2016-05-13T01:37:27","date_gmt":"2016-05-13T05:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/?p=513"},"modified":"2016-11-09T04:48:57","modified_gmt":"2016-11-09T09:48:57","slug":"new-release-roundup-may-13-2016-hard-working-americans-al-scorch-adia-victoria-blind-boys-of-alabama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/2016\/05\/13\/new-release-roundup-may-13-2016-hard-working-americans-al-scorch-adia-victoria-blind-boys-of-alabama\/","title":{"rendered":"New Release Roundup: Hard Working Americans, Al Scorch, Adia Victoria, Blind Boys of Alabama"},"content":{"rendered":"

MUSIC <\/strong>
\n1. Hard Working Americans<\/a> – Rest In Chaos<\/em>
\nIn his liner notes for the new album from Todd Snider\u2019s Hard Working Americans, Dave Marsh invokes some pretty heavy rock and roll names, saying the band is \u201cunder the direction of an older wise Jimi Hendrix and a Frank Zappa no less exacting than when he departed.\u201d There\u2019s plenty of fuzzy guitar and there is a bit of Apostrophe\/Over-Nite Sensation (see \u201cI\u2019m the Slime\u201d) in this album\u2019s DNA, but I hear two different comparisons. Specifically, Bob Seger from his early garage rock days and ZZ Top back when they were they were a slinky boogie band. Snider seems to be receiving signals from both, at least in the vocal booth. Listen to the low growl of \u201cThrowing the Goats\u201d and try not to think of \u201cLa Grange\u201d (or at least Billy Gibbons singing \u201cCome Together\u201d).The overall theme is that we are shrugging our way toward Gomorrah, with the usual factors \u2013 over-saturated media coverage, war, environmental abuse \u2013 as the cause. In \u201cSomething Else,\u201d Snider sings, \u201cKilling is paying like I don\u2019t know how\/If peace paid money we\u2019d have made it by now.\u201d And while our collective demise is mostly regarded with humor, Snider sounds like he means it when he sings, \u201cRest in chaos, my old friend\/May you ascend into madness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen to \u201cOpening Statement\u201d<\/a> and “Massacre”<\/a> on the band\u2019s SoundCloud page. <\/p>\n

2. Al Scorch<\/a> – Circle Round the Signs<\/em>
\nSomewhen about ten or twelve years ago, it seemed there were a bunch of great punkish bluegrassy bands roaming the planet, like the Meat Purveryors and Devil In a Woodpile, and the world was a better place for it. I don\u2019t hear that sound as much anymore, which is why Al Scorch\u2019s new album is such a welcome discovery. Like his Bloodshot brethren before him, Scorch knows how to pick a banjo and a guitar with dexterity and ferocity. \u201cWant One\u201d and \u201cInsomnia\u201d would easily be punk anthems if you played them on a beat up old Strat copy through an old orange Boss distortion pedal. What the hell, let\u2019s torture that description a bit more and add a Peavey amp. But he\u2019s also skillful with a melancholy heart-squeeze like \u201cLonesome Low.\u201d Good stuff here.
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